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http://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-3-teardown-details/
MotorTrend is running an overview of the 6000-person-hour teardown of a Tesla Model 3 by Munro & Associates, a well known reverse engineering and manufacturing consulting firm. A couple of details from the text (there are many photos as well):
Front Upper Control Arm—These are formed of thinner-gauge stamped steel then reinforced by having plastic webbing molded inside. This plastic also provides attachment points for routing the ABS sensor wiring. The oddity: Note the ingot of iron that is glued in place (held by zip-ties while glue sets). Munro reckons this is to dampen a troublesome natural frequency.
Charging Board—This large, complex board filters electricity coming in from the charger with the tall and modular board at right. This board is tailored to suit the electrical service of the vehicle's destination country. This U.S.-market car is prepped for three-phase current, so there are three big copper donuts under that board that look like the one on the left side of the board (that one handles the conversion to 12 volts). This approach is unique and deemed quite savvy relative to the Chevy Bolt and BMW i3 Munro has also analyzed.
Overall, they liked the electronics and panned much of the mechanical design and fastening/welding details--relative to current practice at other auto manufacturers. Which kind of makes sense given Tesla's location near Silicon Valley, and far from Detroit (although Tesla has hired many experienced engineers from existing car companies & suppliers).
The article includes a link to an overview of this analysis, which was published last week.
(Score: 1) by PhilSalkie on Tuesday May 08 2018, @10:18PM
There's an RFID keycard that you stick in your wallet. Touch it to the driver's side door pillar, the car unlocks. Put it by the cup holder, you can drive the vehicle and/or recharge your phone.
https://electrek.co/2017/09/22/tesla-model-3-how-keyless-and-phone-entry-works/ [electrek.co]
I'm a Model S owner (couldn't wait for my Model 3 reservation) and bought a used 2015 service loaner from Tesla's Pre-Owned list. Did a demo out at a Detroit-area Linux/SF/Maker Con called "Penguicon", and a very thorough gentleman came by and was surprised by the (to my eye hard to notice) panel gap variation throughout and differences in curvature between frunk hood and the headlights it closes against. He then proceeded to be extremely impressed by the electronics, UI, SuperCharging network and integration of that with the car's software, OTA updates, etc. The ultimate agreement several of us reached was this was a mid-range luxury card build on a highly advanced electric car chassis - the money goes to the electronics, the power/drive system, continuing hardware and software support, and the SuperCharging network, not so much to making the best ever exterior. (At least that seems to have been the case with this 2015 vehicle.) I've had a chance to look at four different Model 3's, but that was with a less critical eye than I might now have, so I'm not sure I could say they were better or worse - they certainly didn't offend me in any way, they were awfully fine looking cars.
That all being said - I'm not going back, you can't make me, no way, no how. I'll ride my bicycles for the rest of my life before I buy another internal combustion driven automobile, and only a complete dissolution of Tesla would make me buy a vehicle from a competitor. The experience of driving that vehicle over the last year has been unparallelled - from the vehicle itself, the quiet ride, the fact that the car fills itself up in the driveway overnight, the 30,000+ miles of AutoPilot I've been sitting in the driver's seat for, the SuperCharger network, the Tesla phone/tablet app and third-party support apps like TeslaFi, the superb service center staff who've just made every visit as easy as possible, even the sales experience was painless, downright pleasant. I'm far from the only person to feel this way and say so quite loudly - I'm sure that's why Tesla's still got all those paid reservations on Model 3's.